Hi all. Pipsqueak delivers again, with another enjoyable puzzle perfectly pitched for this slot. Thanks Pipsqueak!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 7a | Lawyer’s pants (6) |
| BRIEFS — BRIEF’S (lawyer’s) | |
| 8a | Trainspotter perhaps — and what keeps him warm and dry? (6) |
| ANORAK — Two definitions | |
| 9a | Liberal urges one to change (8) |
| GENEROUS — URGES ONE is to be anagrammed (to change) | |
| 10a | Two bowlers maybe, each wasting time? That’s a laugh (2-2) |
| HA-HA — HA[t] and HA[t] (two bowlers maybe), each discarding (wasting) T (time) | |
| 11a | What might be very hot, but quite cold when picked up (6) |
| CHILLI — Sounds like (… when picked up) CHILLY (quite cold) | |
| 13a | Number of you once crossing river (5) |
| THREE — THEE (you once) around (crossing) R (river) | |
| 14a | Appearance of individual who will succeed, you say? (3) |
| AIR — A homophone of (… you say?) HEIR (individual who will succeed) | |
| 15a | Everyone at home exhausted (3,2) |
| ALL IN — ALL (everyone) IN (at home) | |
| 17a | Got rid of Times editor (6) |
| ERASED — ERAS (times) + ED (editor) | |
| 19a | Steer clear of hotel featuring in tabloid (4) |
| SHUN — H (hotel) featuring in SUN (tabloid) | |
| 20a | Stupidly strikes a star (8) |
| ASTERISK — An anagram of (stupidly) STRIKES A | |
| 22a | Might one be shot with this? (6) |
| CAMERA — A cryptic definition | |
| 23a | Brief description of small boat (6) |
| SKETCH — S (small) + KETCH (boat) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | American Indian’s unending belief (4) |
| CREE — Without the last letter (unending) CREEd (belief) | |
| 2d | Vicar regularly recalls show (6) |
| REVEAL — REV. (vicar) + alternate letters of (regularly) rEcAlLs | |
| 3d | Public schoolboy welcoming second person from Tallinn? (8) |
| ESTONIAN — ETONIAN (public schoolboy) taking in (welcoming) S (second) | |
| 4d | Creatures of the night go back (4) |
| BATS — STAB (go) in reverse (back) | |
| 5d | British held up by more trouble (6) |
| BOTHER — B (British) on top of (held up by) OTHER (more) | |
| 6d | Expensive material a schemer manipulated (8) |
| CASHMERE — A SCHEMER anagrammed (manipulated) | |
| 12d | Try and try again? I agree! (4,4) |
| HEAR HEAR — HEAR (try) and HEAR (try) again | |
| 13d | Somehow I restate thesis (8) |
| TREATISE — An anagram of (somehow) I RESTATE | |
| 16d | Singer hired to entertain pub (6) |
| LINNET — LET (hired) holding (to entertain) INN (pub) | |
| 18d | A craving? Yes (6) |
| AGREED — A + GREED (craving) | |
| 20d | American girl not reaching the end, unfortunately (4) |
| ALAS — A (American) + LASs (girl) stopping short of the last letter (not reaching the end) | |
| 21d | Charlie infiltrating inflexible cult (4) |
| SECT — C (Charlie) going into (infiltrating) SET (inflexible) | |
PB territory of 10.51. One of those mornings with both of us taking turns on the wavelength and solving most on first pass. We always work from clues already containing at least one crosser and this was a nice clockwise solve.
Camera and hear hear needed more crossers, as did air.like Linnet in particular, very smooth.
Thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty
3:54
I can’t remember when, or if, I last came in under 4′; but then everyone seems to have found this one easy. Biffed HA-HA.
Short but sweet.
Started with BRIEFS and finished with ERASED in 4.33.
Thanks to Kitty and Pipsqueak.
12.41 and I now don’t know what to do with the rest of the morning.
LOI and COD was ASTERISK after resisting ASTEROID.
Thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty
Easy answer to that one: try the 15×15! I was stuck in a hotel room the last two days and Friday’s kept me well occupied.
15×15 is hard today, esp for a Monday.
A confidence building puzzle. Thanks Pipsqueak. 15 mins. Biffed a couple. LOI LINNET. Took a minute to connect STAB with have a go.
Thanks Kitty.
Well, we’ll put a stop to all this merriment and relating of snappy times…
… a DNF having failed to deduce CAMERA. 😖 Ouch.
NHO ANORAK in niche interest context, though happily half biffed.
Have told selves to lift game for tomorrow.
Happy Monday one and all.
Thank you Pipsqueak and Kitty.
Omg I came to write this exact same comment!
As a self-confessed ANORAK (I visited a bus museum yesterday) I’m guessing it’s an essentially British usage.
Well there we are. And here is me, having spent much of my life living in the UK. Ignorant as ever. Now in Malta..and what delicious old (restored) buses they have here! And am I right in thinking tomorrow’s the day? If so – have a happy one…
You’re right, it is. I’m planning a quiet one, but may open the bottle of Russian Imperial Stout that’s been maturing since 2018.
oh, the education continues… Mr Google and I have been liaising.
Enjoy! Sounds very special.
So what do they call anoraks in warm or hot climes?
Oh i meant I didn’t know the train spotting definition.
Tbf I don’t think we use the word anorak for a jacket very much, but I do know the word.
BOTHER – a trip to the SCC at 24 minutes. Doing reasonably to have everything in bar 22a after about 8-9 minutes, but then, like Too often Lost, I was bereft of inspiration until the CAMERA answer finally came after seeing the BBC unchecked letters in the NE of the grid – just serendipity I’m sure.
Thanks to Pipsqueak and Kitty
6:58 as I join those who found this a gentle start to the week. Only ERASED and CAMERA not entered straight away as I went through the across clues, and despite the relatively unhelpful checkers (E-A-E- and -A-E-A respectively) they did not delay me much on the second pass.
Many thanks Kitty for the blog.
8:43 WOE. RATS. That’s what I had instead of BATS. Well, they are “creatures” and a star is “of the night” back … just me then. I’ll make it my COD anyway. I also liked ERASED for “Times editor”. Thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty
RATS, STAR, … what a clever but ultimately tragic path… am impressed.. though sad for you ⭐️
Not just you. Was toss up between that and BATS for me. Eventually decided on BATS though
Very quick until the last four, CHILLI, SKETCH, CAMERA and LOI REVEAL each needed a few minutes’ thought. As you say, perfectly pitched. Why do we say 14 will succeed – of course, thank you, Kitty. Oh, NHO CREE, but have now, and it had to be – thus do we learn.
I agree this was perfectly pitched – maybe a bit easy if anything so under 6 was a PB for me . A gentle start to the week – thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty!
Just like Too Often Lost – was going great but dnf on Camera. Crossers that are just vowels are so tricky, plus it was a cryptic clue which are the trickiest.
I also have not heard of the first definition of Anorak
From ANORAK to CAMERA in 5:11. Nice start to the week. Thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty.
05:13, nothing to report. I did like GENEROUS, with an anagram indicator at each end. Many thanks Kitty and Pip.
6:06 – not a PB, but somewhere in my top ten. GENEROUS and BATS were my last two in. COD to LINNET.
Thanks Kitty and Pipsqueak
13:51 and on the verge of a DNF when CAMERA came to mind. A fine start to the week which would have been one of my faster solves were it not for spending half my time on this.
Liked ERASED and HA-HA.
Thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty.
9.08
A straightforward 12min start to the week, including a pause over Bother because other/more didn’t ring a bell. CoD to 20ac, Asterisk, in recognition of a ‘star’ finally being a write-in at about the 4th time of asking! Invariant
A steady solve. Enjoyable puzzle. LOsI SKETCH and ERASED.
Luckily saw CAMERA straight away. FOI ESTONIAN and then we had (T) ALL IN at 15a.
Liked ANORAK, THREE, and HEAR, HEAR and HA HA, among others.
Thanks vm, Kitty.
Thanks to Pipsqueak for an enjoyable Quick Puzzle. I took it gently, parsed everything and finished under 15mins which is OK for me these days.
I didn’t post here on Saturday – I had offered to help a longtime friend who is staying with us for a few days and always had a yen to do crosswords. I gave her a few pointers and we went through Breadman’s excellent puzzle together. I enjoyed strolling through the clues from a different perspective and exploring parsing in a more leisurely way; a nice alternative to trying to speed through and then, as IanV says above, ‘wondering what to do with the rest of the morning’. I think it informed my relaxed approach today, perhaps even for the better….
Thanks to Kitty, too.
What a lovely way to spend a morning
3:53. A gentle introduction to the week… unlike the obscurity-riddled 15×15. Thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty.
9:04 on QC number 1000 x Pi.
LOI CAMERA, which went in quicker than I thought. Thought it’d be a cryptic, and not good crossers.
Almost put HO HO.
Good spot re PI which totally passed me by.
17 after 20, 21 after 30
Failed on camera, alas, agreed, and erased.
I hope the numbers add up
Woke up early looked for the blog about six AM then went back to sleep.
Thanks P & K
No real hold ups. Last two in were BRIEFS and then CREE for a time of 10:53. Liked LINNET. Thanks Kitty and Pipsqueak.
6:41
Think I was slightly off the pace this morning – ANORAK and TREATISE both holding out for longer than they usually might. Fairly gentle start to the week though…
Thanks Kitty and Pipsqueak
16:45
13 mins in with one to go feeling very negative and losing focus. Then in a flash, it clicked – CAMERA!
FOI: HA HA
LOI: CAMERA
COD: CHILLI
Thanks to Kitty and Pipsqueak
🤣
Thank you – I was starting to think I should shutter up and fetch my coat 😁
9 minutes for me. LOI CAMERA.
A very nice QC as noted by others.
COD to ERASED.
David
15.20
A perfect Monday puzzle
Thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty
6:27 for me. Happy enough, but I prefer the ones that take me a bit longer.
The clue is in the title “Quick …”
I was surprised to find my time of 8.39 had beaten my target, and as opposed to just about everyone else, I didn’t find this particularly straightforward. Hoping for better on the 15×15, but I’ll need to sharpen up.
6:34 for the solve. Only 6/12 of the Acrosses on first read but then 9 straight of the Downs with only agreed and alas holding out. Mopped up a little on the way through downs to leave AGREED, CAMERA, BRIEFS for the last thirty secs or slow. I enjoyed REVEAL.
Thanks to Kitty and Pipsqueak
I got most of this done in seven minutes, and then gave up after a further eight minutes of failing to find AGREED and SKETCH. Oh well.
Thank you for the blog!
I was going well …. until I wasn’t. Usual story for me: 19 clues in first 19 minutes, none at all in the next six, then my final six clues in another six minutes. Total time = 31 minutes.
The NW corner proved the main blockage for me with BATS, GENEROUS, CREE and BRIEFS (my LOI) all holding out until almost the very end.
It would be so nice to reliably plod through these QCs steadily. I don’t yearn for fast times, just the avoidance of long, interminable blank periods.
Many thanks to Kitty and Pipsqueak.
Didnt see Camera, and had Rats for 4d (a star is “of the night”). Otherwise all straight forward. Thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty.
17:51 – a bit quicker than usual. No real holdups apart from having to biff BATS.
5.15
Gentle. Liked SHUN.
Thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty.
Swift conclusion-enjoyable
A perfect example of a Monday QC. Thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty.
FOI BRIEFS
LOI SKETCH
COD CAMERA
TIME 3:11
Bucking the trend I didn’t find this particularly easy. To be fair I had all except a handful in average time for me but gave up after 20 minutes with 3 outstanding. I had begun to lose interest by then although I would normally have kept going for another 10 minutes or so. The three I failed on: CAMERA, SKETCH and AGREED. Should really have got all those although I can’t see that greed is synonymous with craving.
FOI – 7ac BRIEFS
LOI – DNF
COD – 17ac ERASED
Thanks to Pipsqeak and Kitty
I was way off of the wavelength and struggled with simple clues like briefs. I was left in the end with the unhelpful crossers for camera, and it took me quite a while to see it.
Time: 7:17
16 mins…
Nearly came a cropper on 13dn “Treatise” (where I always want to put “Treatsie”). As a result, took a while to get my LOI 23ac “Sketch”. Nice start to the week though.
FOI – 7ac “Briefs”
LOI – 23ac “Sketch”
COD – 10ac “Ha Ha”
Thanks as usual!
From BRIEFS to CAMERA in a new PB of 4:07. Thanks Kitty
🚀
🔥👏
Very gentle today. Particularly enjoyed AIR, although also appreciated the surface for GENEROUS. Held up by thinking ‘you once’ was ‘ye’ rather than ‘thee’. Felt a bit silly when it became very obvious the answer was THREE 😆 Thanks to pipsqueak and kitty.
5:58. Held up for ages at the end with ERASED, probably took 2 mins on that alone! very enjoyable and gentle start to the week.
6:50, probably a top-10 result for me. Slight holdup from thinking you might be shot with a NEEDLE, but HEAR HEAR put paid to that.
Thanks to Pipsqueak and Kitty.
9:13, a fast time for me and it would have been very fast if I hadn’t gone around the barn a few times thinking about British terminology for both the legal profession and clothing worn below the waist to get the after all rather easy BRIEFS. (It wasn’t until reading Kitty’s explanation that I understood that “brief” is slang for a lawyer, which makes the clue much tidier.) And when, when, when will I learn that it’s common to refer to an ASTERISK as a star?
Liked HA HA, good one Dad.
Thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty.
This puzzle reminded of the many times I would indulge in trainspotter spotting. An altogether more niche pastime! Thanks to Pipsqueak and Kitty. 4:46.
Very niche! What sort of jacket do you wear, to spot spotters, without giving yourself away? 🙂
A trainch coat?
Got all bar three in under ten minutes but then spent another ten gazing at 22a. 17a and 18d. The Times misdirection got me: I thought the word had to end in T ED (Times Ed.) Exited? No. Elated? No. And on I went. Eras for times would not have occurred! So a dnf.
But CAMERA did fall eventually, so a fun 20 minutes and lots of approachable clues. Thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty.
Another one who had RATS for 4d. It seems a perfectly valid answer to me.
we found the top half fairly quick, but not the rest for which we needed aids.Some clever clues we should have got, eg camera.